Recorded last year and previously only available at the band’s gigs or via their website, this broader release coincides with The Hollies’ second lengthy UK tour of 2010. And while it’s unlikely many of these tracks will dislodge anything from an already hits-packed live setlist, there are still some fine examples of the rich harmonies and melodies that have kept the group in our hearts.
Peter Howarth, who became lead singer in 2004, takes centre-stage for the bulk of the album, but it’s founding member Tony Hicks who fittingly kicks proceedings off with the folky autobiographical title track, charting the group’s history from their Manchester roots via “the bus stops and carousels” to world acclaim. Howarth (a veteran of Cliff Richard’s backing chorus) is at his most powerful on the country jangle of Too Much Too Soon and the power ballad I Would Fly.
The new version of the album adds one new track, the sinister She’d Kill For Me, featuring a happy-go-lucky melody at odds with the obsessional nature of the lyric. It’s probably the darkest song they’ve ever recorded, an unexpected detour from the soft-focus nostalgia of the band’s concerts.
